WALTHAM, Mass. – Following a two-year absence, the Bentley University Falcons are back in the Northeast-10 Conference Field Hockey Championships for the first time since 2015 and will travel to second-seeded Merrimack College Tuesday as the number seven seed. Game time is 7 pm and a free webcast will be available at NE10NOW.tv.

Coach Jessica Spencer's team finished the regular season with an 11-7 record, including a 3-2 home loss to Merrimack five weeks ago. It'll be the Falcons' first game in 11 days, since a 2-1 win at St. Michael's in the regular season finale.

Bentley has won three of its last four and will be seeking its first 12-win season since 2009. That team captured the NE10 championship and was the last time the Falcons advanced in the NE10 postseason.

The Falcon offense, which has scored the most goals by a Bentley team since 2009, is powered by junior forward Tess Anderson (Stow/Nashoba Reg. HS). She's third in the conference in scoring with 17 goals and is also fourth in points (39).

Other scoring threats for the Falcons include seniors Rachel Crowley (Leicester/Notre Dame Academy), with 7-4-18, and Morgan Van Epps (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa HS), with 5-5-15. Junior Sam Pavano (Madison, Conn./Daniel HS) has put the ball in the cage four times, and both sophomore Sam Simione (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire HS) and junior Keally Ingersoll (Ellicott City, Md./ Marriotts Ridge HS) have three goals.

Senior Jana Mones (Ramsey, N.J./Ramsey HS) has started a team high 12 games in goal and owns a 2.14 goals against average. Freshman Kayleigh Vogel (Greenland, N.H./Portsmouth HS) has seen most of the playing time recently and owns a 1.56 GAA, one shutout and a 3-1 record.

Merrimack has one of the conference's premier scorers in Mary McNeil, who has been involved in 29 of the team's 63 goals and has 16 goals and 13 assists for 45 points. Katharian Ohmen (1.34 GAA) handles the goalie responsibilities for the Warriors, who'll be leading the Northeast-10 for Division I next season.

Crowley and senior Mikayla Ullrich (Montclair, N.J./Montclair HS) are the only active Bentley players who saw action in the team's last postseason game, a 4-0 first-round loss to Merrimack in 2015.

Merrimack has one of the conference's premier scorers in Mary McNeil, who has been involved in 29 of the team's 63 goals and has 16 goals and 13 assists for 45 points. Katharian Ohmen (1.34 GAA) handles the goalie responsibilities for the Warriors, who'll be leading the Northeast-10 for Division I next season.

In Tuesday's other quarterfinals, No. 1 Pace is hosting eighth-seeded Assumption, Stonehill will make the trip to Long Island to face LIU Post, and a pair of New Hampshire teams, Saint Anselm and Southern New Hampshire, are meeting in the 4-5 win.

If Bentley wins on Tuesday, they'll play at the LIU Post/Stonehill winner on Friday.

NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tuesday, November 13 - Quarterfinals ­– at Higher Seeds
Game 1:  #8 Assumption at #1 Pace (TBD)
Game 2:  #7 Bentley at #2 Merrimack (7:00 PM)
Game 3: #6 Stonehill at #3 LIU Post (1:00 PM)
Game 4: #5 Southern New Hampshire at #4 Saint Anselm (4:00 PM)

Friday, November 16 - Semifinals  – at Higher Seeds
Game 5:  Game 1 winner vs. Game 4 winner
Game 6:  Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner

Sunday, November 18 - Championship